The Care in the Caroline
by GCatsPjs
Summary: Oneshot.  Caroline has some motherly advice.


**A/N- Just a little oneshot to let everyone know that I havent given up completely on the Bones world... Thanks to Jen (sirenizzed) for the idea, and Jena (Jenlovesbones) for the editing giggles. You guys are awesome :) Please leave comments... if you don't, I will starve and die a horrible death. (tempted to not leave a comment now, huh?) Be Nike. Just Do it. **

**Love and Sid,**

**PJ.**

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><p>The bell on the door of the diner slammed hard against the glass as it was pushed open with a bit of force. The woman walking through the doorway was not a happy woman, and for now had no care for anything or anyone who was in her way as she made her way angrily toward a table by the window. She eased herself into the chair, frowning because of her current size, her pregnancy making her change many routines, including the way she sat in a chair, simply so that she wasn't uncomfortable. She let out a refreshing breath and slapped the menu on the table as she opened it swiftly without a care.<p>

Brennan looked up at the waitress, and flashed a slightly irritated glare in the younger woman's direction, instantly softening when she saw the bit of anxiety in her eyes. "Bad morning, Doctor Brennan?" She asked politely, putting down a glass of ice water in front of her customer.

"To put it bluntly, yes." She replied, offering an apologetic smile before glancing at the menu. "I'll just have fries for now." She said, sighing heavily.

"No problem. Side of pickles?"

"Yes, please... and spicy mustard, please." She said. "And..."

"I'll bring a cup of peanut butter sauce too." The waitress replied, noting the slight curl in Brennan's lip as she nodded her thanks. "One never knows when they'll have the urge to have a little something extra." She smiled and turned to put the order in.

Brennan was just closing the menu when the chair across from her was pulled out quickly, as Caroline made herself comfortable in the chair. "So you're just gonna walk right past me and not invite me over? I see how it is."

Brennan looked to the attorney with a slightly open mouthed gaze, closing it quickly, her brow furrowed. "I'm sorry, Caroline, I didn't even see you sitting..."

"Enough with the excuses, Cherie, why don't you tell me why you came storming in here like gale force winds prepared to take out anyone in your path?"

Brennan paused, considering whether or not she should explain her frustration. She sighed, "I am not having a particularly enjoyable day. I am uncomfortable, tired, irritable..."

"You may not have noticed, having your head all jumbled up with murder facts and body parts, but all of that weight you've been gaining isn't just a coincidence. There is a small human getting ready to crawl out of you, and it's sucking up all of your energy, and making every encounter with other people emotional, and frustrating. You're pregnant, Cherie."

Brennan stammered for a moment. "I am sure that much is obvious, however it isn't quite the pleasurable experience that some expectant mothers would have you believe." Her attention went to the girl behind the counter for several moments, unsure of what she could possibly say to Caroline. They had very little in common, but for the cases that they worked on, and Brennan felt ill at ease with the other woman sitting across from her, attempting to stare her down. It was a rare occurrence for Brennan to not have something to add to a conversation, and from the intensity of Caroline's stare, she could tell that there was something that she wanted to say. Instead of pushing, however, she chose to wait for it. Advice seemed to be something that many people were doling out for free lately, and she didn't expect Caroline to be any different than anyone else in that respect.

"It gets better." Caroline said suddenly. She caught the scientist's eyes, and held them for a long moment. "Sure, right now it feels like everything is crashing in on you at one time, and the more you try to catch up, the more things are jumping off in other directions quicker than you can catch 'em. Not to mention that you feel like you're so big they're going to need a forklift to get you out of your chair, and the fact that your child is playing soccer with bladder, making it near impossible to sit longer than fifteen minutes at a time." She said in her matter-of-fact way. "Then there's the father." She said, rolling her eyes as Brennan watched in quiet amusement. "Good Lord, the man meant well enough, but for me, I was just about ready to physically alter him so that he could never make another woman so miserable again." Caroline lamented. "He coddled and followed, and 'helped'..." She said, putting air quotes around that last word for emphasis. "By the time that child was due, I was about ready to just hand her over and let him have at it." She said with a hint of a smile.

Brennan's rapt attention was on the attorney across from her, and for a moment just basked in her story. "But the moment that little girl was placed in my arms, the world could have fallen in around me, and I wouldn't have noticed. She was the center of my world, and all of the aches, the pain, all the frustration and anger and emotional tilt-a-whirls that I had been on for the months up to that moment... they didn't matter a lick." She said softly. "That child is your saving grace, Doctor Brennan. She's your center... she's your control, for lack of a better word. Everything stops once that baby is placed in your arms..." Caroline said, pressing her finger down on the table to emphasize her seriousness.

She leaned in slightly as she watched the doctor do the same. "I'm not the kind to give advice. So don't be asking me how to stop a crying child, or whether or not you should breastfeed, or use cloth diapers, or the like... but I will say that I know you, and I know Agent Booth pretty well... you're going to make wonderful parents."

"How could you possibly know that?" Brennan whispered.

"Because you know what's important. You both have your jobs, you have each other, and it's about time you shared that with someone else. No more of this wishy washy, love from afar... none of this eye sex from across a crowded lab. Now we all have visual proof you two've moved past that and onto the real thing. Actual, real proof in the flesh that you and Booth love one another, and are willing to share that. Call it what you will, a surprise, an unexpected event. Even surprises can bring a great deal of happiness, Doctor Brennan... You and Booth have one very lucky child there. And she has two very lucky parents, if you ask me. Which I know you were going to."

Brennan watched the other woman for a moment, and her lower lip slipped between her teeth for a second, and she leaned back just slightly as the waitress brought her lunch. She nodded her thanks and then leaned toward Caroline slightly. "Is it typical to be frightened?" She whispered.

"I'd be more worried if you weren't, Doctor Brennan."

"Your daughter is a successful member of society, correct?" Brennan asked, watching Caroline steal a french fry, before she nodded in affirmation. "How did you do it?" She whispered.

She took a bite of the french fry, and then dipped the rest in the small cup of peanut butter before biting into the rest. "Mm..." She said, as she swallowed. "When I was pregnant with my daughter, I couldn't get enough spices... I'd pepper a bit of Cajun in everything I ate, from my cereal in the mornin', to the container of ice cream I'd raid in the dead of night." She said nonchalantly. She looked to Brennan and immediately saw that she was waiting for an answer. "Oh... How'd I raise her? Cherie, all you geniuses in the world, and not one of you has yet to come up with a parenting manual... and even if there were, it's not like my husband would have read it." She sighed. "I coddled her and pushed her... helped her, and made her do things on her own. I loved her, but showed her that sometimes, there is not enough love in this world. I let her grow up, and let her stay young at the same time, Doctor Brennan."

"Everything you are saying is contradictory."

"That's right, Doctor Brennan... because there is no 'right' way to raise a kid. You want them to be one thing, and they go off and do something else... either because they want to, or they find something that ticks you off. Some intelligence is genetic, and some of it comes with experience. Your responsibility is to let your child experience it without worrying that they'll get hurt. To guide them when they'll let you, and step back when you need to. You do that with Agent Booth every day, wouldn't you say?" She said with a wicked smile.

Brennan couldn't help but smile, the relief that she was feeling was almost overwhelming. The familiar form of someone walking on the sidewalk outside the diner caught her eye, and when she looked back to Caroline, she was already standing up. "Wait, you don't have to..."

"You need to tell him how you're feeling, not me. Communicate, Doctor Brennan. Can't do that with a mouthy attorney sitting at your table." Caroline said as she stood up and watched as Booth looked around just as he walked into the diner. She stepped toward him and caught his eye.

"Hey, Caroline." Booth said, sending a small wave toward Brennan.

"Stop being so god-damned helpful." She said with a smack to his shoulder, turning toward the door, his brow furrowed as she disappeared out of the diner, and out of sight.


End file.
